Here is a preview of the up-coming version 1.14 of the Analyzer. We've added a new 'Data Channel' feature which allows you to display the values of any of the 50+ data channels available, both for recorded laps and live telemetry. As with the traces, these data channels are completely customizable, from their location, to the size to their data and color.

We've also got many other improvements and tweaks coming in this new version. It is just a few weeks away - so stay tuned!

Here is the full set of release notes:* Added a new setting called 'Title On Top'. When this is turned on the titles for each trace will be displayed on the top of the trace, as opposed to the left side as was the case in previous versions. This allows for a longer description of the trace being displayed. This option is turned on by default. If you would prefer the titles on the left as in previous versions then uncheck this option.

* Updated the Analyzer to work with the new more compressed UDP format from the Z1 Server.

* The 'Trace Display' main menu has been renamed 'Display'.

* Added 'Data Channels'. A data channel is a small numerical display of any of the available data channels within the Z1 Analyzer. It will display the current value of the selected item. For example displaying Throttle will give you a number between 0 and 100. Displaying Speed will give you a number between zero and your maximum speed. Data channels that are assigned to wheel or tire data will display four numbers, one for each wheel or tire. The number display is associated with the current location selected in the track. If you are playing back a lap, or viewing live telemetry then the number displayed is the current location on track.

You create a data channel display by selecting 'Add Data Channel' from the Display main menu, or type the CTRL-D key combination. Once displayed you can move and resize the data channel just like you would any other trace. To change what is displayed in the data channel, right click on it and choose the desired option. You can maximize the data channel display if you want. To remove the data channel, select the Trace Display->Hide Trace from the popup menu.

You can have a maximum of 20 data channels displayed at one time. The currently displayed data channels will also be included under the Display menu. If you select the data channel from the menu if will bring it to the front, covering any items behind it, assuming you have the auto bring to front option selected.

Note custom traces are not yet supported in the data channels.

* When choosing the Display->Reset Display option any active Data Channels will be moved to the right side of the window, and be moved to the foreground on top of any traces.

* To remove a data channel from the display, right click on the data channel's display and select Trace Display->Hide Trace. Unlike traces, the data channels are not just hidden, they are removed. So the number of data channels will go up and down depending on how many you have displayed. Remember the maximum number that can be displayed at once is 20.

* Now when you use the Display menu to show/hide a trace, when the selected trace is requested to be shown, it will also be brought to the front layer (assuming you have the auto bring to front option selected).

* The Colors tab has been revamped. The various colors are now grouped into sections based on their purpose. These sections are loosely based on the right-click popup menu displayed in the traces. In addition, several new customizable colors have been added. These include those for the trace title background, border, text and header color; various track map colors, and default grid and background colors.

* Engine Torque is now available as a data channel for those sims that support it (Currently rFactor 2 and Project Cars 2).

* Logging has been updated to include more data when necessary. This should make determining issues easier in the future.

* Now when you change what a trace or data channel is displaying (by using the right click popup menu on the trace or data channel) the Analyzer no longer resets the lap position back to the beginning or stops play back of a lap. It will keep everything as it was, and just change what is displayed in the trace or data channel.

* The Analyzer can now read laps the Z1 Dashboard recorded in Codemasters F1 2018.

One of the main goals of the Z1 Analyzer is to help you improve as a driver. This video is the first in a series that explains the features of the Z1 Analyzer that help you become the best river you can be.

Getting the most from yourself as a driver and being consistent every lap is the key to winning races. The Lap Overview screen gives you a summary of how you did driving your lap. It is a must for any driver looking to improve the most important part of the car setup - the driver.

When you are driving on a track you always hear people say 'make sure you drive the line'. And 'Hit the apex and track out points'. Well what does that mean? How do you know if you are driving the correct line? Or if you are hitting the apex?

The Z1 Analyzer's Driving Line analysis screen is designed to help you answer those questions.

Watch this video to get these answers on one of the best ways to improve your lap times.

This video is an update to one we made about two years ago. A lot has changed in the Z1 Analyzer in that time. A new video was needed - and here it is!

The display of the Z1 Analyzer is highly customizable, and knowing how to take advantage of that customization and the information it provides you is really important when it comes to getting the most out of the Z1 Analyzer, and in the end becoming a faster driver - and that is what it is all about.

If you'd like to skip around and watch specific parts of the video here they are:Orientating the Track Map 0:39Zooming In 2:25Changing Displayed Information 4:40Positioning Traces 7:26Showing and Hiding Windows 9:49

This latest version has lots of improvements as well as new features. The big one is the ability for commercial users to import data from external sources!

In addition you can now compare laps from different sims or real life data against each other. So if you want to compare iRacing and Assetto Corsa, or your real life track day against a sim, you can do so!

The new Import External Data dialog.

The updated finish line graphic makes it easier to identify the S/F line on track maps.

You can now choose the colors you want to use for the throttle/brake overlays.

The Ride Height analysis has been updated to allow for side-by-side displays, and improved graphics.

The Status Bar now displays the car, driver and time info for the loaded laps.

Here is the full list of release notes:* There is a new commercial feature for importing external data from csv files. This data is converted into zod2 files which can then be read by the Z1 Analyzer. This feature is available under File->Import External Data, or CTRL-I for a keyboard shortcut.

The dialog has 3 sections. The first is where you select the file you want to import. This must be csv file. It should contain data from one or more laps. Click the Browse button to open a file dialog and then select the file through that dialog. After you select the file, the first 50 rows form the file will be displayed in the table in section 3.

After selecting the file you need to fill out the items in section 2. You can type these in manually or you can right click on the cell in the section 3 table that contains the appropriate information and then select the action from the popup menu. For example most CSV file from other data sources will contains the track, driver and car name in the first few rows. If you right click on the driver name and choose 'Set as Driver Name' from the menu that cell's data will be placed in the Driver Name text field of the second section.

The track length is the only optional field in section 2. If you do not enter a value here then one of the columns from the CSV file must be the 'Lap Distance' data channel.

After filling out section 2, you should specify the various data channels and units for all appropriate columns in the section 3 table. You can scroll this table using the blue scroll bars, both vertically and horizontally. You can also use the mouse wheel to scroll vertically. For every column you want to import, you need to select the appropriate data channel from the drop down. Any column marked as 'Ignored' will not be imported. The following data channels are the minimum that must be specified: Current Time, Lap Percent or Lap Distance. Latitude, Longitude, and Altitude are highly recommended. If they are not supplied then a circle will be generated as the track map. All others are optional. Of course the more you specify the more data you will have.

Each data channel has specific units associated with it. After you choose the data channel from the top drop down, the drop down underneath will update itself with the available units for that data channel. Make sure the selected units match what is contained in your source csv file. For example if you have selected 'Lap Distance' and your CSV file has recorded lap distance in kilometers, then you'll need to set the units drop down for that column to 'Kilometers'.

The final step is to specify which row contains the first row of data. Left click on whichever row this is. That row will be highlighted and have a line draw above it. Only data from this row downwards will be imported.

Click the Import button to proceed. If you have not specified a track length, then the file will first be scanned to determine the length of the track. Afterwards it will be scanned again to convert the data into a zod2 file format. The file will be stored in Documents\Z1Analyzer\ExternalData\Telemetry. You only need to do the import one time for each CSV file.

You will receive a message once the import is finished altering you that it has completed. You will also be asked if you would like to add the laps to the Analyzer's list of available laps. You will need to do this to open them in the Analyzer. Click Yes if you would like to do so at this time. If you click No, you can always perform a Lap Scan at a later time to add the laps to the Analyzer's list of available laps.

* You can now open laps from the same track from different sims. Both tracks have to have the same name for this to work. This is intended to allow you to open a lap from a sim track and compare it to a lap from an external data file (real world) track. The name of the sim and the track map data will be taken from the main lap (and not the base lap).

* When exiting the Lap Scan dialog you will be prompted if you would like to open a lap. Answering Yes will immediately open the Lap Selection dialog, removing the step of having to choose it from the menus.

* The Ride Height Analysis screen has been updated to use the improved rendering engine that is used on the other analysis screens.

* The Ride Height Analysis screen will now show two laps side by side when you have two laps loaded.

* The brake point analysis screen has been improved so that the act of dragging your brakes is not counted as a brake zone.

* We have added comments on the overview analysis screen's braking section to include information about whether or not you are dragging your brakes during the lap.

* The behavior of selecting drivers from the popup menu in the Select Lap dialog has changed. If you right click on the list of available laps you will see the standard popup menu. Selecting 'Show Drivers' from this popup menu will display the list of all drivers whose laps are displayed in the scroll window. By clicking on the driver name you can choose if you'd like to display that driver's laps or not. This works fine when you have a few drivers. But when you have 10 or more drivers it becomes a two step process to display the laps from just one driver. You have to first select 'No Drivers' from the top of the list, then right click again, go back to the 'Show Driver' sub menu and then choose the driver name. In version 1.15 of the Analyzer if all drivers are displayed, as would be the case when you first choose a sim and track, when you select a driver name the Analyzer will display laps from only that driver, hiding the laps from the other divers. This is a shortcut to get the laps displayed from the desired driver. You can then add other drivers into the mix, or display them all again if you choose.

* The above behavior changes have also been implemented when you select from the list of cars in the drop down menu.

* You can now specify the colors used to display the throttle and brake overlays on the track maps. These colors can be set in the Colors tab of the settings dialog. They are located near the bottom (scroll down) under the Track Map section and are called 'Brake Overlay' and 'Throttle Overlay'.

* Drawing the sector line on the various analysis screen track maps has been improved to have the lines better meet the track edges.

* The S/F line on the analysis screen track maps has been updated to be a checked flag pattern instead of a red rectangle when the throttle/brake overlay is displayed to avoid confusion with the default braking color.

* We've added more YouTube video links to the YouTube Help menu. Please check these out to get the most out of the Analyzer and its features.

* The status bar at the bottom of the screen now also displays the driver name, car and lap time for the currently loaded laps. This makes it possible to see that data when the Lap Data window is not displayed.

* Instructions on how to make sure you have a track map in live telemetry are now displayed if they are needed. This would be when you are seeing the default square track map.

* Compatible with the updated RaceRoom API. Note this update is not backwards compatible with the older RaceRoom API.

* Implemented alpha version of live telemetry to F1 2018. Note as this is a beta feature there may be bugs with connecting to F1 2018 at this time.

One of the great new commercial features of version 1.15 of the Z1 Analyzer is the ability to import external data. This lets you use all the great features of the Z1 Analyzer to view data generated from other sources, such as real world cars. In addition that data can then be compared against data generated in a sim as well.

Here is the full list of release notes:* Track License - this is a new license type. It is intended for those users who want to utilize the Z1 Analyzer in real world scenarios. This license gives you access to the Import External Data feature of the Analyzer. This is compatible with data logging systems such as AIM or RaceCapture, or any other one that outputs data in a CSV format .

Once your real world data has been imported into the Analyzer all the standard tools within the Analyzer are available to you to review the data. This includes all the traces, custom traces, and analysis screens. You can compare two separate real world laps, just as you would any other laps. In addition you can compare your imported laps to a lap done in a sim.

This license type is available on the Try/Buy page of the website (www.z1dashboard.com). Existing users can upgrade from a standard license to a track license by going to the My Dashboard section of the website (http://z1simwheel.com/dashboard/MyDashboard.cfm). Once logged in there with their order number they will see an option to upgrade to the track license.

After purchasing a track license, the same pricing options apply regarding updates or the monthly subscription as apply to the standard license.

* The Analysis screen and its associated description screen are now movable and resizable just like the traces and track maps. In addition you can have the map track map and the analysis screens displayed simultaneously.

* When viewing live telemetry and comparing it to a base lap, you can now choose to compare the laps by time, lap percentage or lap distance. Comparing by lap time is what has always been the case in previous versions. Comparing by lap time overlays the two graphs by where they are in time on their laps. This lets you see if you are falling behind or are pulling ahead of the other lap. Comparing by lap percentage overlays the two graphs by where they are on the track. This lets you see in real time how the inputs of each lap compare at the exact location on the track. Comparing by lap distance is the same as by lap percent, but the x-axis will display the distance round the track in feet or meters rather than by percentage. This is a commercial only feature.

* The 'Use Live Extents' option has been improved, reducing the performance hit that could be incurred when using this feature. When this feature is turned on the live telemetry will use the values of the main lap to determine the various y-axis values in each trace. This feature is always on for non-commercial users. Commercial users have the option of turning this feature off and using the base lap to determine the y-axis values in the traces.

* Live telemetry now can show the sector divisions on the traces, when supported by the sim.

* When saving a custom layout the current color palette will now be saved along with the layout. When loading a layout its color palette will also be loaded, replacing the current color palette.

* The Lap Scan debug option now outputs more data. This will make it easier to diagnose any issues with laps not being found.

* Scanning of ZOD2 files has been improved. The Analyzer will now check to make sure all laps that can be extracted from a ZOD2 file actually exist, and if not it will recreate them. Previously if a ZOD2 file was scanned, and then a file it created was deleted, there was no was to get that deleted file back again.

* When scanning ZOD2 files the Lap Scan dialog will now report the name of the file being scanned and the number of laps currently found within it. Previously the display would show no updates until the ZOD2 files were scanned. This resulted in it appearing as if the lap scan was hung up.

* There is now an option in the Import External Data dialog to save column mappings. After you have specified all the column mappings and their units, click the Save Mapping button. You'll be prompted for a name for the mapping. Then click OK. This mapping will then be available to load in the future. To load a previously saved mapping, choose its name from the Load Mapping drop down. The column mappings will then be applied to the currently selected file. This new option saves time if you have a standard file format or two that you repeatedly import.

* The Import External Data dialog now lets you import file of type 'LOG', as long as those files are in the same CSV format as a CSV file. This allows for more easy importing of data from applications like RaceCapture.

* The Import External Data option now lets you import data files where there are gaps on the data. There are some data files where the data is only recorded when it changes. This leaves blank cells in some of the rows. In this case the Analyzer will fill in those blanks with the previous value for the data channel.

We've just released version 1.16.2 of the Z1 Analyzer! This fixes a couple of bugs as well as introduces a couple of small improvements to version 1.16.

* The limit for the number of cars or drivers that can be displayed in the drop downs for the popup menu when selecting a lap has been increased from 100 to 1,000. This is sue to the number of different laps now available on our servers.

* Fixed a bug that resulted in imported external data not always matching up properly with sim data when displaying traces by time.

* The Track License will now allow for up to 20 different Layouts. Previously was the same as the standard license at 10. The commercial license allows for an unlimited number of layouts.

* The Open Layout and Save Layout dialogs now show the number of saved layouts in parenthesis after the 'Saved Layouts' title.

* The Edit Trace dialog now shows the number of saved custom traces in parenthesis after the 'Trace Name' title.

* You can now delete a custom trace in the Edit Custom Traces dialog. Right click on the custom trace name you wish to delete and choose 'Delete Custom Trace'. Note if the trace was being used in the currently displayed layout then it will remain there until you select a different trace to replace it, or until you select a different layout, or you restart the Analyzer. Any saved layouts that used the deleted custom trace will have that custom trace replaced by the Throttle trace.

One of the great unique features of the Z1 Analyzer is Track Edges. This lets you see where the edges of the track are when viewing your driving line. A driving line shown in empty space just doesn't help much. But once you add the left and right edges of the track you can really see where you are on the lap.

Driving line with Track Edges showing:

We've updated the list of available laps to show which tracks have pre-defined track edge files. When you view a lap from one of these tracks the track edges will automatically be downloaded from our servers so you can easily and properly view the driving line on your Z1 Analyzer.